Are you ready to abandon snail mail?

Adam Turner

Australia Post wants to stop delivering the mail every day, do you care?

The internet age hasn't been kind to postal services around the world like Australia Post. The rise of online shopping has seen a boost in parcel numbers, but it hasn't been enough to offset the plunge in standard letters due to email, social media and electronic billing.

A fewer letters go through the post, Australia Post says it might be time to cut back on daily deliveries. Photo: Adam Turner

Australia Post says it's reaching the point where it's no longer feasible to deliver everyone's mail every day – with mail volumes dropping 25 per cent since 2008. The thought of not seeing the postie every day might not bother some people, but as a society I'd say we're certainly not at the point where we can scrap snail mail completely. Instead Australia Post has floated the idea of only delivering the mail a few times a week, with the option to pay extra if you want your mail every day.

This sounds like a reasonable compromise to me. My letterbox has something in it almost every day, but the vast majority of letters are bills which could easily wait until the next day. Most of my bills are on direct debit from my credit card, so the bill is really just a courtesy anyway. I could probably get them delivered electronically, but I admit I like having paper copies on hand at tax time.

Businesses might see things differently, depending on the relationship they have with their customers. Forcing them to pay for daily deliveries might encourage them to reduce their reliance on paper and give customers like me better incentives to go digital.

Switching to a completely user pays postal system would seem unfair, punishing people like pensioners who haven't embraced the internet. But the compromise of only getting your mail every second day, unless you pay, doesn't seem like a big deal. Even if someone posts you a handwritten letter there's no guarantee that it will arrive the next day as planned, so it's no big deal if the postie skips a day. You would assume that Express Post deliveries will still come quickly because you're paying extra.

The alternative to fewer mail deliveries is to hike up the price of stamps again, which would penalise everyone. While I can choose to receive fewer letters from my service providers, I have less control over which services demand that I send back forms via the post.

Cutting back on mail deliveries could turn out to be a good thing, encouraging people like me to wean themselves off unnecessary paper bills in the mail. Can you live without your daily mail delivery?